Broken Ink
by menmaas
Summary: The secrets hidden on Lieutenant's Hawkeye's back were defaced to the best of Colonel Mustang's flame ability. But a rising enemy seems to have discovered the missing pieces that no longer lay on her back. All he needs is Riza and the rest of the tattoo to complete his quest for alchemy. In order to keep her safe, Mustang forces her into a protection program. M rating for later
1. Burned

**AUHORS NOTE: Hello everybody. So this is just a story I came up with because I have an overwhelming amount of Royai feels. This will just be the prologue, and then I'll get really into the story in the next chapters. I love R&Rs and they make me feel all warm and tingly. I haven't written a FF story in a very long time, so here is my first attempt at it again.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing or I would be rich and I'm not. **

**Chapter 1: Burned**

First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye gently walked down the long and empty hallways of Central headquarters. She liked this time the most, the walking. It gave her time to think for herself, gather up her thoughts and store them gently in her mind where nobody could ever expose them. She was glad her thoughts _especially_ could not be seen or heard because that made them something she could hold onto, without ever having to worry about her commanding officers finding out. If it was one thing she loved owning, it was her mind.

The long hallways made it easier to relax. She hardly ever got the time to unwind since she is always busy looking after everybody. So if Colonel Mustang was frantic about handing in paperwork late, she would always be the one to offer to take a long walk and submit whatever work he had procrastinated on. In a way, her always nudging him to get his work done benefited her the most.

Her footsteps clanked along the heavy marble floor as she slowly walked back to the room where her subordinates lazed away next to their leader. The Colonel was probably taking a long nap, Havoc was almost destined to be smoking his third pack of cigarettes, Fuery was probably building a radio from scratch as he often likes to tinker with his technology and Falman and Breda were probably testing each other on who knew more about the history of Amestris.

It's never anything new when it came to her boys. She didn't think she would want it to change no matter what. It was a comfortable environment, even if moving from Eastern Command was hard thing to do. She got over it quickly, for Mustang. It was now her home and what she would never admit to any of those boneheads, they were her family.

The Colonel has just finished his report on Scar. Although they were still having no luck finding him, the Fuhrer had requested a status update to make sure progress was being made. Mustang strung together what he could to make it look like the force team was getting closer to finding this mysterious alchemist, but in reality, he had exaggerated the point by…a lot. Mustang always looked to impression his officers, which always interested Riza since almost everyone knew Mustang's true intentions of becoming the head leader.

Riza never did like how he claimed his spot of Fuhrer so openly; especially since he was nowhere close to the position yet. Although, it did pay off to see the Colonel passionate about something. Lately with this Scar case, he had been acting a little more down than usual.

_It must just be getting to him, _Riza decided as she turned the last corner before the work room. She stopped in front of the door that separated her from her colleagues. Taking a deep breath, she caught her reflection one of the large glass windows located all over Central Command.

She walked closer to the glass, studying her reflection carefully. She looked tired, she felt restless and her yellow wasp of hair was a mess. She quickly remembered what awaited her behind the door and she knew she had to keep up a certain persona in front of her colleagues. She was Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. She was always kept together. That was the burden she had to carry, and carry it she would. If she had to stick by Mustang's side through hell and back, she would make sure she was the calm in the eye of the storm. She was the control and that was one thing the boys admired most about her. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed the strung out pieces of hair, pinning them neatly back into her clip. She pinched her cheeks lightly, trying to get some sort of colour into her pale skin. She glared at her reflection once more, seeing little improvement, but figured it was time to get back to her job.

She spun back around toward the door, put on her best 'Riza' face and opened the door.

"LIEUTENANT!" screamed Havoc. "Where have you been?" He barged towards her, quickly blocking her view of her surroundings.

"You know where I've been, Second Lieutenant, you heard that King Bradley wanted a status report. Why are you so close to me?" His face was merely inches from hers. He had a plastered smile on his face that made Riza feel uneasy.

"It's so nice to see you, Lieutenant!' cried Falman, who had coming running up to her at the same speed as Havoc did, mysteriously blocking her view with both of their heads from anything that was going on behind them.

"It's so nice to see me? I was just here ten minutes ago, what are you talking about, Officer?"

Fuery and Breda stomped up to meet her as well, adding their faces to the smirking men in front of her.

"You're back earlier then we thought, Lieutenant." Fuery's quiet voice said, his glasses rubbing against Breda's face, their faces squishing together so Riza didn't have a chance to see anything beyond their big heads.

Riza's eyes glared into the souls of her four subordinates, looking for an explanation. She tried to step around them, but they all quickly counter acted and launched themselves in front of her again. The fake smiles on their faces never shifted and their eyes stayed peeled on hers.

_They're not backing down from me, _thought Riza, _which only means that they have orders from…_

"ALRIGHT, WHERE IS HE?" Screeched Riza, now fully understand what was going on. She grabbed both Havoc and Breda's faces since they were closest to her and roughly shoved their faces to opposite sides with a brute force.

And there, as she suspected, was Colonel Mustang's desk…empty.

"I AM GOING TO KILL THAT MAN. THERE IS SO MUCH PAPERWORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOT TO MENTION THE SERIAL ALCHEMIST KILLER WHO IS CURRENTLY WANDERING THE STREETS WHOM WE NEED TO DESPERATELY FIND. WHERE HAS HE GONE OFFICERS?"

Her eyebrows had creased and she was breathing heavily out of anger. That man can be so infuriating. She left for ten minutes and he had taken that opportunity to skip work. She glared at the men beside her. She rarely got angry enough to yell and the boys had all backed away from her, cowering.

"He told us not to tell you, Lieutenant." cried Havoc, barely over a whisper.

Riza pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers; a headache was beginning to form. A headache named Mustang.

_How am I supposed to protect him if I don't know where he is going? _

"Why didn't he just tell me he was leaving?"

The men looked around, daring each other to speak first. Finally, after a few moments, Breda spoke up.

"You would never have let him go. Besides if you knew he was going to the Hostess bar, you-"

He was cut off by a clean swipe of Havoc's fist to Breda's jaw.

"OW, WHAT THE HELL, HAVOC?" The second Lieutenant cried out, holding his now bleeding lip. Falman and Fuery began to giggle uncontrollably at the sight of Breda's jaw and Havoc's stunned face.

_Hmm Boys, _She thought.

"I'm sorry! I panicked!" Havoc replied. "But do you know how pissed he's going to be when he finds out that we told her? It is all your fault, Breda!"

The carried on the conversation as if she wasn't there. She took a minute to reflect on the information she had just hear, it was running through her whole body as the realization hit her. The man she was loyal to, the man she swore to protect, the man that she trusted with her entire soul…had gone off to a hostess bar?

That one hurt more then she thought it would.

_I figured I was his most trusted officer, _she thought aimlessly. She must have been mistaken if he couldn't even trust her with this.

She cleared her throat, letting the boys continue to bicker. She put on her 'Riza' face once more, the face that nobody could decipher and she calmly walked over to her desk, pulling out the chair and sitting down.

The officers had stopped fighting halfway and had watched her take a seat. Confusion masked all of their faces and she could tell that they had expected a different reaction from her.

"Did he say what time he was going to get back?" She asked them, in a pleasant tone.

They all shook their heads except for Havoc, who whispered something along the lines of, 'I bet he wouldn't last ten minutes.'

She chose to ignore that comment from Jean and gave a swift nod, dismissing them from standing in front of her and letting them get back to their duties. They scattered back to their work and Hawkeye let out a deep sigh. A sigh that was filled with sadness or a sigh filled with pain?

_Did he really have to go to a Hostess bar right now, in the middle of the day? _She thought, restlessly, trying to focus on her task at hand.

_Couldn't he have waited until late at night when I didn't have to know about it?_

That's what hurt her the most. She didn't want to admit it to anyone except her own twisted mind. She figured he slept with lots of girls. Hell, she's heard so many stories and rumors about the Colonel's affairs; she didn't even bother keeping track.

But not once did he ever blatantly state that he was going out to be with a woman. Not until today, at least. Riza was happy living in her bubble of rumours. Rumours can be disproven.

But when it comes right from the source, well, that just makes the sting in her heart ten times worse.

"Lieutenant?"

Fuery's tiny voice burst through her thoughts. Her eyes snapped over to his and he had a look of concern.

"Don't be worried about the Colonel. I'm sure he's fine."

_I'm sure he's great, _she thought._ It's me I'm worried about. _

It was hard to explain her and the Colonel's relationship. She couldn't even put her finger on it. She just knew, ever since they had first met, that she needed to be by this man's side, guarding him. She had always looked out for him, more times then he probably knows. Her sniper duties in Ishval had saved his life more than a few times.

They've been through so much together, enough for two lifetimes. Her father taking him as an apprentice, teaching him everything he needed to know about flame alchemy, her father's funeral.

Ishval.

So many nightmares have been fought side by side.

The most significant to her, was when she asked him to deface her back. The back that held all the secrets of flame alchemy, the back that had taught him everything he knew. There is something so very intimate and precious in showing someone the burden that you carry. That's what it was like showing Mustang the secrets her father had forced upon her.

He had burned her and she couldn't have been more thankful.

She remembers him crying. His tears had fallen on her burns as he was demolishing her back, which was a nice release from the fiery hell that was waging on her most kept secret. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he told her he couldn't do it anymore. He had burned what he could and that he couldn't bear to hurt her anymore.

As she cried out from the pain, he cried out for causing it.

That was one of the last times she had seen the Colonel vulnerable. He became a man of war. A Leader. A Colonel.

He became her reason to continue living and for that, she couldn't thank him enough.

**A/N – Ok, so yay for the first chapter? It's kind of slow, but I promise you there will be so many Royai moments that your hearts will probably explode and you'll be crying for days.**

**I really would appreciate an R&R, it makes me want to write more. I will also update as soon as I can!**


	2. Nice Shot

**A/N – Nothing Fullmetal Alchemisty is mine and that makes me sad.**

**Chapter 2: Nice Shot. **

Colonel Roy Mustang lounged lazily around the bar of Madam Christmas' little hostess club, swept up in his second whisky, which warmed the lining of his stomach with every drop. He promised himself this would be his last one, after all he still had a job to get back to and as much as he would've loved drinking himself under the table, he was thinking about his officers and what they…what _she..._would do if she found him passed out in his own vomit. He shuddered at the thought. If it was one thing he that frightened him, it was an angry Lieutenant.

Mustang was almost too frequent of a customer when it came to visiting his adoptive mother's bar and if he was being honest, he enjoyed the service way more then he should.

_Being a family member of Madam Christmas does have its perks, _thought Roy smugly,catching the beautiful eyes of a long time hostess, Vanessa. She blew him a kiss and he smiled and winked back at her. It was a typical flirtatious style between them and Vanessa was an expert at pleasing him when he needed it the most. She also was a bottle of information and smart when she needed to be.

He was just about to gulp down his drink and waltz over to where she was sitting but was angrily interrupted by a looming presence behind him followed by a rough smokers cough.

"No matter how many times I say it, you still won't believe me," growled Madam Christmas, picking up his glass, still half full, and dumping it down the sink. He whined as she disposed of something that made him so happy.

She rolled her eyes at him, silently cursing him for being an idiot. "Roy…"

He sighed, knowing exactly where she was going with this. "Please, don't give me the lecture."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I'll give you the lecture. Vanessa is a sweet girl. She works for ME. You are corrupting her with your big ego and your dirty sex drive. It's real hard to get customers when the girls are more infatuated with a bonehead like you rather than doing their jobs." She coughed again, clearing out her throat.

"Are you suggesting I stay away? I do bring good business, Madam."

Teasing her always got him in trouble.

"I didn't call you here to drink all of my alcohol and sleep with my girls, Roy."

He put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes, a headache beginning to dominate. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. It's just been a really stressful time at work."

"I thought I raised you better. You don't drown your sorrows in booze. You man up. Take charge of the situation. You're a Colonel, Roy. Own up to it."

He knew she was right, she always was. With Scar running around, Fullmetal's quest for the philosopher's stone and King Bradley still being the leader of the godforsaken country, he figured his answer would be at the bottom of a nice glass. He was slowing losing it what had kept him alive in Ishval.

If it wasn't for Lieutenant Hawkeye, he might've already gone insane. She might be one of the only reasons he is still able to get up in the morning. Knowing that she would be there to whip him into his Colonel routine gave him a sweet comfort in his life.

And now he had a friendly reminder from the woman who raised him that he was seriously lacking at his job he had worked so hard to get.

"I will try, Madam," He murmured into his hands. "What did you call me here for anyways? Do you have some useful Intel about Scar?"

He heard her breath deeply. "No, it's not about Scar. You're definitely not going to like this one. It's about your Lieutenant."

Roy's head snapped up at the mention of Hawkeye, his eyes meeting his mother's, filled with questions. Madam Christmas and Lieutenant Hawkeye had never even come into contact, so what sort of information could she have about her?

"Hawkeye," He stated. She gave a curt nod to him and looked around the room.

"She's in danger, Roy. I mean big danger."

Confusion settled into Roy's stomach and began to twist like a knife. "What kind of danger, Madam and from whom?" He could feel himself getting frantic. Why Hawkeye? She had barely left his side in all the years they've known each other. She was his Lieutenant, his Queen, his…Hawkeye. Anxiety began to fill into his bloodstream at the idea of something bad happening to her. She would never deserve any kind of trouble; she's already been through hell and back.

Madam Christmas looked down at her now hectic adoptive son and she put a hand gently to his forehead and smoothed his jet black hair out of his face. He was sweating and not just from the alcohol settling in. She could tell he was very nervous for his Lieutenant.

"Here's all that I know."

She took a deep breath and began.

* * *

Hawkeye glanced out the window of the office. The sunwas beginning to set and the Colonel was still not back. It had been an hour, how had he expected her idiot subordinates to distract her for an entire hour? This was the worst escape plan he's ever had.

She couldn't help but wonder what he was doing there. Maybe he was sleeping with some bimbo or drinking himself to death. Whatever it was, she was sure he was enjoying himself while the rest of them slaved over the last few pieces of paperwork. She could tell the boys were getting agitated as well wondering what their commanding officer was really up too.

She tapped her pen on the wooden desk. A nervous habit she had yet to break and she knew how much it pissed of her officers. She could feel Havoc's eyes on her and she snapped hers up to glare at him, challenging him to speak out of turn. She was not in the mood.

"What, Havoc?" She asked, not bothering to use his title.

He shrugged. "I can just tell that you're nervous about the Colonel. We all are, Lieutenant. We didn't think he would be this long. I mean, how long could he poss-"

A pen whipped past Hawkeye's face, flying though the air from the opposite side of the room landing directly in between Havoc's eyes.

"HOLY SHIT, THAT HURT LIKE A MO-"

His cursing was slowly drowning out by the sound of the rest of the men laughing hysterically, Breda wearing a proud look on his face.

"You shot that at like 500 miles per hour." Havoc commented, holding his nose that was slowing turning a bright shade of red. "You're not human."

Breda's smug face was turned upside down when he glanced over at a very unimpressed Lieutenant, still recovering from almost being pelted as well.

"We are here to work, gentlemen. We're so close to finishing these papers, so I suggest you quite the fun and games and sit your asses back into these tiny wooden seats and finish whatever the hell you were doing. We all want to go home as quickly as possible. That's an order!"

All the men saluted her and quietly walked back to their stations, Havoc whimpering at the pain flowing throughout his head.

"And Breda?"

Breda turned back to the Lieutenant.

"Nice shot."

* * *

"How did this happen?" Roy cried out as Madam Christmas ended her story.

"I don't know, son. But you need to go to her. Keep her safe. I know how much she means to you."

_How much she means to me? _

"When did you find this out? How long have you known this information?"

"Roy, I just found this out, why would I withhold something this important?"

He quickly darted up from his seat, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Thank you for telling me." He said, running out the door and slamming it behind him, not bothering to say goodbye to the girls. He began to sprint, suddenly regretting the stupid idea to not bringing his car. He figured escape to work to meet his adoptive mother would be easier on foot, Hawkeye wouldn't have noticed.

He had only meant to be ten minutes at the most, but he just couldn't seem to grasp his head around what Madam Christmas was telling him. She had to explain it three or four times before it dawned on him that he needed to get to the Lieutenant.

The sun was beginning to set and he knew the officers must be just about ready to go home.

_What if I get to Central and she's not there? What if she's at her house? That's too much time wasted._

It was a 5 minute run to the office and a 15 minute drive from the office to her apartment. He would travel to the office and if she wasn't there, he would only have a limited amount of time to use one of the work cars and drive to where she lived.

_I've never seen her apartment; _he thought grimly, _what if I can't find it? _

The thought scared him into pushing his legs to an inhumane speed, her face was the only thing left in his mind and that was enough to get him there.

He clasped his hand around his pocket watch as he ran up to the front door, just in case some idiot needed to ask for identification. He ripped open the door, his feet clanking across the marble floors. Nobody was around at this time. Most of them had gone off home or were up on higher floors assisting their leader.

"LIEUTENANT," he screamed as loud as his voice would allow. "LIEUTENANT HAWKEYE!"

He heard no answer and he prayed that she had not gone back to her apartment. He turned the last hallway before entering the closed office door but even before swinging it open, he knew she was not in there.

The lights were down, the windows were closed and the desks were empty. He cursed inwardly, running his hands through his hair and shutting his eyes. His breath was still coming in heavy rasps from running as fast as he did.

_What if I'm too late? How could I let her get hurt again?_

He gathered himself as quickly as his beating heart would allow. He couldn't give up now; the cars would be his only way of transportation.

"Ok," He muttered to himself. "Go, Roy. GO!"

He didn't like this feeling of not knowing. He didn't know where she was or if she was safe. He knew she was a strong woman, but everybody has their weak point. He knew hers and he knew that's exactly what was going to throw her off if she had to defend herself in a fight. His boots clanked as the sprinting began again. He had to get down to the basement where the staff cars were stocked.

He was so focused on running that he didn't realize somebody was standing around the next corner and he ran full speed into the body, knocking the person to the floor while they muttered a single, 'ow.'

Both of them sprawled out on the floor. He had hit his head as he went down, which made his headache measurably worse. He glanced down from where he was on the floor to the person he knocked over and he got a glimpse of bright yellow hair and a similar looking uniform.

"Sir?"

He almost cried with joy at the sound of Hawkeye's voice and without thinking about what he was doing, he crawled over to where she had fallen, his knees scraping on the dirty floor, grabbed her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her neck, squeezing her as if she was the only person in the world. He closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief, his breath blowing lightly on her hair that had now fallen out if it's usual clip. His hands slowly travelled to the top of her head and he latched himself onto her, grabbing her hair.

Her face was now in the crook of his neck, the closest skin to skin contact she's ever had with her Colonel and she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it. He smelled like a mix of alcohol and sweat but she really didn't mind.

Their legs were now a tangled mess as she half straddled him in the middle of the floor. The closer he pulled her to him, the more she her body opened up to him.

"You're okay," he whispered into her ear, causing chills to run through her entire body as his lips warmed her ear. She didn't respond, out of sheer curiosity as to why she wouldn't be alright. Also, she was enjoying the hug too much to speak. She knew her voice would sound shaky and overwhelmed, so it was best she just stayed enveloped in his arms. She forgot all about being mad at him for leaving work and she just stayed peacefully right where she was.

His eyes shot open suddenly, when she didn't answer and the silence began to overwhelm him. He jumped back from her as fast as his body would allow and quickly jumped to his feet, holding out his hand to her.

_Why did I do that? That was very inappropriate of a Colonel to touch his Lieutenant. What have I done? _Roy angrily thought.

_Why did he stop? He must have realized what he was doing and who he was doing it to. He would never touch me like that if he wasn't drunk. _Riza's mind wondered.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant…I-that was uh-nothing. Sorry."

"Not a problem, Sir," her formalities were finally coming back to her as she grouped herself together and up off the cold floor, refusing the hand he offered. She wouldn't meet his eyes; she was too embarrassed for enjoying the few minutes of skin contact. He kept trying to look at her, but her gaze would always fall elsewhere. If anyone should be embarrassed, he would think it should be him. He basically groped his First Lieutenant who obviously was repulsed by his forwardness.

"Lieutenant, we have a situation."

Now her eyes jumped back up to his, the brown met the black. She was worried about the sharp tone in his voice and she knew that whatever this was, it was serious. This was something extreme. She could tell by looking at him. All the embarrassment was gone from his face and it was now filled with immense amount of worry.

"Sir? What is wrong?"

"We need to get you out-" His breath came out ragged.

She noticed he had paled a bit from the time he got up. He looked very faint and he took a step towards her, stumbling as he did. She only then noticed the wound on the back of his head from hitting the floor when he had fallen.

"Stay with me, Sir. I have to get you to a hospital." He staggered against her again and she caught him before they both fell once again towards the hard floor.

"No. No hospitals. We need to go to my house."

"But sir, your head is –"

"That is an order, Lieutenant!"

And that was the last thing he heard himself say before the darkness enveloped him.

* * *

**A/N – Yay or Nay? They are a little bit out of character but I figured I had to make it like that in order for it to work. I like reviews; they keep me a happy monkey. Sorry if I missed any spelling mistakes and what not, it's really late and I'm tired. **


End file.
